Judge Accepts Plea Deal in NSA Leak Case

By

Andrew Ackerman

Updated June 10, 2011 1:34 p.m. ET

BALTIMORE—A former National Security Agency official accused of mishandling classified information pleaded guilty on Friday to a misdemeanor as part of a last-minute deal in which federal prosecutors dropped far more serious charges.

Thomas A. Drake, 54 years old, formally pleaded guilty to one charge of misusing a government computer, at a hearing in a Baltimore federal court on Friday morning.

Previously

The development, just days before a trial was due to start, ended a high-profile case in the Obama administration's pursuit of government leaks to the press.

"This is a just result," said Mr. Drake's attorneys, James Wyda and Debbie Boardman. "Tom never intended to harm his country. And he didn't. We are grateful that Tom and his family can start to put this frightening chapter behind them."

Mr. Drake, a former senior official in the NSA's electronic eavesdropping division, could still face up to one year in prison and a fine of up to $100,000 but the Justice Department said in the plea agreement that it wouldn't object if Mr. Drake faces no jail time. Mr. Drake will be sentenced on July 15.

The misdemeanor charge is far less serious than the 10 felony counts Mr. Drake faced in an indictment filed last year, in which he was charged with violating the Espionage Act. The World War I-era law punishes the gathering, disclosure, or retention of national-defense information that could harm the U.S. Mr. Drake had faced up to 35 years in prison under the original charges.

The government's case suffered a setback last week when Judge Richard Bennett ruled that prosecutors would have to show some of the classified material to jurors. The ruling leading prosecutors to withdraw or redact exhibits they had planned to introduce at trial in order to safeguard information about NSA technology.

Prosecutions against government leakers have been rare, but the Obama administration has brought five such cases, each alleging the defendant threatened national security by mishandling or disclosing classified materials. Mr. Drake's case was to be the first trial in the Obama administration's stepped-up efforts.

U.S. Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer said on Friday that the Justice Department "must always strike the careful balance between holding accountable those who break our laws, while not disclosing highly sensitive information that our intelligence agencies conclude would be harmful to our nation's security if used at trial."

Prosecutors had alleged Mr. Drake leaked classified information to a Baltimore Sun reporter, though he has insisted the material he shared was not classified. The reporter, Siobhan Gorman, wrote several articles for the Baltimore Sun in 2006 and 2007 that said management failures and expensive-but-ineffective programs at the NSA were undermining the agency's efforts to gather and analyze electronic intelligence. Ms. Gorman now covers intelligence for The Wall Street Journal.

Spokesmen for Dow Jones and the Baltimore Sun couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

Jesselyn Radack, who is advising Mr. Drake on separate whistleblower matters, said despite the favorable outcome on Friday, her client had suffered enormously. Speaking to reporters after the hearing, Ms. Radack said Mr. Drake lost his career in the intelligence field and exhausted his financial resources defending himself.

She said she hoped the collapse of the case against Mr. Drake was the "death knell" for using the Espionage Act against leakers "who are more often than not whistleblowers."

Prosecutors didn't actually charge Mr. Drake with leaking information to the press. Prosecutors charged Mr. Drake with illegally retaining classified documents at home, making false statements to federal agents and obstructing an FBI investigation into national-security leaks to the media.

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